An insurance worker stole and sold customer details to cold callers who pressurised drivers to make claims.
Karl Yates, of no fixed abode, was employed by insurance company Royal Sun Alliance (RSA). Liverpool Crown Court heard how the 40-year-old had accessed customer data associated with non-fault road traffic claims while employed by RDA. He was not authorised to do so.
Yates then passed the details on to claims management companies, which used the information to cold-call the drivers involved and pressurise them into making personal injury and damage claims against the insurance industry. The former insurance worker stole customer details by writing them down and taking pictures on his phone.
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He would gather enough details so the phone calls from the cold calling companies would sound legitimate. Detective Sergeant Matt Hussey, from the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) at the City of London Police, said: “Yates’ actions could have seriously harmed RSA’s reputation. As well as being distressing for customers, the cold calls could have caused members of the public to unintentionally submit fraudulent claims across the insurance industry.
“Unfortunately for Yates, his plan backfired and we found clear evidence of his scheme when we arrested him. We hope this sends a clear message to anyone thinking of doing something similar – not only will you lose your job, you could face a prison sentence too.”
The theft was discovered by RSA, following controls identifying issues and customer complaints. This was then reported it to the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) at the City of London Police in September 2020.
After it was brought to their attention in 2020, RSA researched all of those who had complained. It identified Yates had accessed their records when he was not authorised to do so.
After further enquiries, IFED officers went to Yates’ home at the time to arrest him. Yates was logged into his work computer and pages of handwritten notes, which contained the details of customers whose accounts he had recently accessed, were found next to the screen.
Officers seized £2,200 in cash, documents containing customer details and a mobile phone from Yates’ address. An examination of the mobile phone found that it contained over 100 images of typed pages of customer details.
Yates was found guilty of fraud by abuse of position and computer misuse on Wednesday, November 8, following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court. He was sentenced to 28 months in jail on Monday, December 11.
Adele Sumner, Head of Counter Fraud & Financial Crime at RSA, UK & International, said: “We have strong fraud detection and prevention and data security controls at RSA. Where we identify any potential wrongdoing, we’ll investigate and take strong action against those responsible – as demonstrated here – to prosecute and ensure they’re brought to justice.
“RSA was the victim of a crime committed by an employee in this instance and we took swift action to protect our customers. We’re pleased with the outcome of the investigation and today’s judgement and sentencing.”
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